As disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid Open No. 11-279906, Japanese Utility Model Laid Open No. 56-103080 and Japanese Utility Model Laid Open No. 54-139779, warp knitted elastic mesh fabrics having openings, each of which is larger than a needle loop formed from the stitch yarn extending over plural knitting courses, are well known.
As disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid Open No. 11-279907 and Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 3-36555, weft inserted warp knitted fabrics having inserted yarns, which are knitted into a base knitted fabric formed from main stitch yarns by a warp knitting machine and which are in continuous in line in the knitting width direction, and warp inserted warp knitted fabrics having inserted yarns, which are knitted into base knitted fabric formed from main stitch yarns by a warp knitting machine and are in continuous line in the knitting length direction, are well known.
As disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid Open No. 11-279907, Japanese Patent No. 3096356 and Japanese Patent Gazette 62-60489, the knitting method of threading an elastic yarn into warp knitted fabrics is well known.
As disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 3096356, 11-279907, polyether-ester elastic yarn is well known as the elastic yarn to be threaded into warp knitted fabrics.
It is known to apply a woven elastic fabric, on which surface a honey-comb pattern was drawn with a leno and gauze textile design, to the cushioning surface of the car-seat and the like. The leno and gauze textile design may be woven in a manner where monofilament elastic yarns of a fineness of about 2000 dtex are applied to warp yarns and, multifilament bulky texturized yarns having an apparent thickness which is thicker than the monofilament elastic yarns are applied to weft yarns, warp yarns arranged in the weaving width direction are classified into 8 groups, open sheds are formed by each pair of adjacent warp yarns of each group, the shedding motion (open shed) is changed every picking, and two weft yarns which are picked into the open shed in order are tied up by the pair of adjacent warp yarns (FIG. 5).
In the case of application of the warp knitted mesh fabric to the cushioning surface of the car-seat, the cushioning surface which has good air-permeability, and gives a cool feeling to touch, and does not give a warm sticky feeling, may be obtained. However, conventional warp knitted mesh fabric applied to the cushioning surface can not bear up in use, since loosened puckers arise and a recess (sagging) appears over the cushioning surface in use.
In this connection, in the case of the application of the weft inserted warp knitted fabrics, where the elastic yarn is threaded in, and the warp inserted warp knitted fabrics, where the elastic yarn is threaded in, to the cushioning surface, loosened puckers and recesses or sagging may be avoided by the elastic yarn and a durable car-seat or the like may be obtained.
For this purpose, it is necessary to densely thread the monofilament elastic yarns of single fiber fineness of more than 1500 dtex into the base knitted fabric so that stress at 10% elongation in the direction where the elastic yarn may be continuous in the warp knitted fabric is more than 100 N/5 cm.
However, in the case of application of such a thick monofilament elastic yarn, the surface of the warp knitted fabric becomes similar to the monotonous simple surface of the conventional plastic sheet goods. So that a car-seat or a like article having high market value can not be obtained. Since the surface of the monofilament elastic yarn, which is thick in single fiber fineness, is flat and slippery like the surface of fishline, so that a soft and quite natural fine appearance, which is covered with fine fibers, can not be formed over the surface of the warp knitted fabric.
The surface of woven elastic fabric, where thick monofilament elastic yarns are densely woven in and exposed over the surface of woven elastic fabric like a mat rush of facing tatami mats, is flat, slippery, and glossy, so that, when limbs are put on the cushioning surface formed from such an elastic fabric, limbs will slip, and can not be maintained in a comfortable posture producing a feeling of fatigue.
The woven elastic fabric woven on which surface a honey-comb pattern is drawn out is lacking in size and shape stability, so that a cushioning surface of high durability can not be formed. Since the honey-comb pattern is formed with weft yarns which are in a tortuous path in a zigzag manner in the weaving width direction, when tension acts in the weaving width direction, these weft yarns are elongated and transformed in line.
Therefore, the present invention intends to provide an improved warp knitted elastic fabric which is useful for the cushioning surface of a car-seat and the like, and has the following properties: it does not cause a recess and loosened pucker resulting from load-hysteresis fatigue in use for the cushioning surface; it has high dimensional stability; it does not cause a distortion of stitch openings; it has high air-permeability; it does not give a warm sticky feeling; it is able to maintain limbs of the user in comfortable posture without slippage when limbs are put on the cushioning surface; it has a soft feeling when touched; it is not glossy; it has a soft and a quite natural fine appearance covered with fine fibers; it is not similar to the monotonous simple surface of the conventional plastic goods in appearance; and it has a high market value.